Thursday morning

Good morning! It is going to be a great day today! The weather is going to be super, and I am smoking meat for Lester's graduation celebration and for Mother's Day. While smoking, I will be preparing for Sunday. Living the dream... ha ha!

Here's a note from Luke. He's in Guatemala with a team of folks from Lipscomb and other places. This picture is of the bridge construction. To the right you can see the bridge that he is replacing. It's just a couple of feet wide, and it spans a deep gorge. Luke's bridge is being made of steel. Since there are no machines available and no electricity, he designed it in small sections that will bolt together. He told me it was like putting Legos together. The locals, with help from the missionary, poured the concrete bases. They mixed all that by hand.

I’m pleased to report to you from the comfort of our temporary home.
We made it safely from Coban to the Valley today, where we will be
staying for a week. We had a very productive afternoon after arriving.
The solar team was able to get organized for their upcoming tasks. The
water team was able to see their work site and made some very
beneficial adjustments to their design and is ready to begin tomorrow.
The finished bridge pieces arrived to the Valley today with a fresh
coat of paint. 50 eager men arrived at the top of the mountain to
carry every piece of the bridge to the site. They made quick work of
the transportation and the bridge is ready for construction tomorrow.
Kris Hatchell and I were able to go to the bridge site to see how the
scaffolding, that will hold the bridge during construction, looked.
Attached is a picture of the scaffolding. We are very thrilled with
the quality of work by everyone involved in the bridge. We are
confident and excited to start tomorrow!

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. God has been good to us.
Update you soon!


Yesterday was another good day. We had a very long Hoosier MAMA meeting. OK, that's an old joke. MAMA stands for Mitchell Area Ministerial Association, and we are all living in Indiana... Anyway there were lots of good things discussed - things that matter and will make a difference in our community. Details will come out later.

I went to Bloomington for my weekly meeting/time with Pat A. We worked through a preaching text and talked about life and its challenges. There are always challenges!

After a brief stop at Sam's to get a brisket (for Mother's Day), I made my way to see a few people in various places and stages of life. I finally arrived home in time to prep for today's smoke. Then it was off to lead my Bible discussion group. One of our group members could not decide if it was Eunice or her Greek boyfriend who was the "hottie." I was challenged to use the word "hottie" in the sermon. Should be no problem really.

Speaking of challenges, oh my... I made a causal comment on the bike ride the other night, and that little comment got carried back to Wendy. This little comment got Wendy fired up, so she wrote this piece. I think I now have my motivation for training hard all summer. Wendy is sharp, smart, competitive and a very fast runner. I will have to be a couple of minutes ahead of her going into the run if I am to win this challenge.

Today is a bike day! Not sure when, but I will get it in. Then the pool... Running resumes, hopefully, Saturday morning.